BrightSource Energy raises $150 Million Series D financing

BrightSource Energy, Inc., developer of utility-scale solar thermal power plants, has raised an additional $150 million in its most recent equity financing. The Series D round brings BrightSource’s total equity financing to more than $300 million and positions the company for significant growth.

New investors including Alstom and the California State Teachers Retirement System (CalSTRS) joined existing investors in this round, led by VantagePoint Venture Partners, Morgan Stanley and Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

The additional financing will be used to support BrightSource's 2,610 megawatts in contracts with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and Southern California Edison to build 14 solar power plants in the US southwest by 2016. The funds will also be used by BrightSource to further its international expansion plans.

“A Series D capital raise of this magnitude reflects the market’s confidence in our world-class team and the important role of our Luz Power Tower technology in meeting the growing global demand for cost-effective and reliable solar power,” said John Woolard, Chief Executive Officer of BrightSource. “By adding new strategic investors to our current blue chip investor base, we strengthen our ability to make solar thermal energy a significant part of the world’s energy mix.”



As part of the financing, global power-generation leader Alstom has committed to invest up to $55 million. This investment in BrightSource represents Alstom’s entry into the solar market and underscores BrightSource’s leading position in this industry.

Philippe Joubert, Alstom Power President, said, “BrightSource Energy’s market-leading solar-tower thermal-power technology complements Alstom’s strong portfolio of renewable energy solutions, building on our strength in hydro, geothermal, wind, tidal power, biomass and waste-to-energy solutions. Following this investment, both companies intend to enter into an industrial relationship, which will enhance BrightSource’s leading position in this industry.”

In February 2010, BrightSource received a conditional commitment from the U.S. Department of Energy for $1.37 billion in loan guarantees to support the financing of BrightSource’s Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System project – the first of its US-based power projects. Once constructed, Ivanpah will be the world’s largest solar energy project, nearly doubling the amount of solar thermal electricity produced in the US today. The project will also create more than 1,000 local jobs at the peak of construction and generate $250 million in construction wages. The power plant will be constructed by Bechtel, the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor for the Ivanpah project. BrightSource expects to commence construction later this year.

“The BrightSource team continues to execute at the highest levels and set the bar for the utility-scale solar industry,” said Alan Salzman, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Partner of VantagePoint Venture Partners. “With BrightSource’s proven ability to hit commercial and technological milestones, we see no limit to the company’s potential in transforming global power markets.”

BrightSource is the parent of Jerusalem, Israel-based BrightSource Industries Israel (BSII), formerly called Luz II. BSII performs R&D, production and project engineering for its California-based parent company.

In June 2008, BrightSource launched the Negev Solar Energy Development Center, a demonstration plant producing the world’s highest temperature steam from solar, at the Rotem Industrial Park near Dimona, Israel.

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Helioris Solar partners with Rotem Industries on solar thermal R&D

Helioris Solar Systems, a stealthy cleantech startup, is working with the Rotem Renewable Energy Center on an innovative patent-pending topology for solar thermal fields.

The proposed topology apparently combines the benefits of parabolic trough systems, employed by companies such as Solel, and tower systems used by companies such as BrightSource Energy. According to a report by Rotem Industries, the Helioris Solar approach allows the use of dual-axis tracking heliostats and small aperture thermal receivers, thereby increasing optical and thermal efficiency while maintaining a modular scheme of the solar field.

The founders of Helioris Solar are Yossi Yatir and Oded Mor. Yossi Yatir, according to his LinkedIn profile, is an Entrepreneur in Residence at cleantech incubator Precede Technologies, and Yatir and Mor worked together at Chromatis Networks in the late 1990s.

The report notes that Yatir and Mor have filed a provisional patent for their solar topology and an innovative solar thermal receiver, which will be designed by Rotem Industries.

Rotem revives development of high temperature solar receiver

In a possibly related development, Rotem Industries has also announced that it is reviving the development of a volumetric central air receiver for utilization of solar thermal power.

The technology was originally developed as part of a joint project between Rotem Industries, the Weizmann Institute of Science and Ormat in the early 1990s.

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Rotem assists with plans for 50 MW solar power station at Nevatim Airbase

The Rotem Renewable Energy Center is preparing a Request for Information ("RFI") for the construction of a solar power station at the Nevatim air force base in the Negev. It will be a 50 MW solar power station, the first of its kind on an Israeli military base, according to an announcement by Rotem.

The Ministry of Defence is building the solar power station to help ensure regular power supply to the base, even in case of severe failures of the state electric grid.

Dan Peer, CEO Rotem Industries: "Rotem Industries will provide the Ministry of Defense with every assistance needed to establish the solar power station and this will be based on the vast knowledge that has been accumulated over many years in the solar field. This initiative is an addition to the establishment of the Renewable Energy Center that is unique and possesses huge technological and scientific abilities".

Rotem Industries, located near Dimona, is home to BrightSource Energy's Solar Energy Development Center, an important test site for solar thermal technology.

In December 2008, Rotem Industries and the Midwest Research Institute, which manages and operates the Colorad0-based National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), announced an agreement to collaborate to develop and commercialize new clean technologies.

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Rotem Industries and Midwest Research Institute to establish renewable energy technology center in Dimona

Midwest Research Institute (MRI) and Rotem Industries Ltd announced that they have reached an agreement to jointly establish a Renewable Energy Technological Center (RETC) in the Rotem Industrial Park located in Dimona, Israel.

MRI and Rotem aim to develop and commercialize new clean technologies at the RETC.
MRI is one of America's leading independent research institutes conducting research in the areas of national security and defense, energy and environment, life sciences, food and agriculture, and transportation safety. It is one of the two entities in the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC, that manages and operates the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colo., for the U.S. Department of Energy.

Rotem, a quasi-governmental entity, specializes in evaluating seed technologies, bringing them to market readiness and commercializing the resulting products. In 2005, Rotem established a Renewable Energy Innovation Center that is now home to projects like Leviathan Energy's experimental wind park and BrightSource Energy's "Solar Energy Development Center".

MRI and Rotem will also collaborate with TASC Capital to invest in promising renewable energy technologies.

MRI and Rotem will organize and manage the RETC, with Rotem providing the facilities and MRI providing expertise in the technical screening and evaluation of potential projects. It is anticipated the Center will be ready for operation in January 2009.

"In Israel, MRI has found innovative technologies with commercialization potential that will advance new renewable energy applications in the marketplace," said Roger Starnes, MRI Group Vice President of Strategic and Emerging Program Development. "MRI's and Rotem's capabilities complement each other and by working together through the Center we will be able to accelerate the advancement of these technologies."

This agreement would seem to put Rotem in a strong position to receive government support under a Negev renewable energy R&D program approved by the Israeli government in August, 2008.

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Negev renewable energy R&D center approved by Israeli cabinet

The socioeconomic cabinet on Monday approved a plan by the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry to establish a center in the Negev for the research and development of renewable energy technologies, according to a report in the Jerusalem Post.

"The program will enable Israel to become a major player in the global renewable energy industry," Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Eli Yishai said.

The R&D center will be established in the Negev under the auspices of the Chief Scientist's Office, and it will invest NIS 70 million ($20m) over a period of five years. The center will focus on the development of renewable and alternative energy sources for the production of electricity, such as solar and wind energy.

The Negev desert region is already a hub of cleantech and renewable energy activities. This winter, Israel Cleantech Ventures announced a partnership with Ben Gurion University (BGU), located in Beersheva. The Central Arava Fund and Oasis Investment Fund are also raising money to invest in agritech, biofuel, and solar energy companies in the region. In Dimona, Rotem Industries manages a Renewable Energy Innovation Center that hosts the BrightSource Energy / Luz II solar thermal pilot plant and a testing ground for Leviathan Energy's wind turbines. Sde Boqer is home to BGU's National Solar Energy Center, whose director, Prof. David Faiman, is a pioneer in the field and the Chief Scientist of ZenithSolar.

It will be interesting to see where in the Negev this new government-backed R&D center is located and which entities are responsible for managing it.

Boaz Hirsch, Deputy Director General for Foreign Trade at the Trade Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, said Israeli renewable energy technology exports generated $110 million in 2007. Under the framework a new government plan, it is predicted that renewable energy exports will grow to $1 billion a year within 10 years. In addition, R&D investment is expected to increase to $350m annually during the 2008-2012 period of the program.

BrightSource / Luz II Dedicate Negev Solar Energy Development Center

BrightSource Energy, and its Israeli subsidiary Luz II, developers of large scale solar thermal power plants, dedicated their Solar Energy Development Center (SEDC) in the Negev's Rotem Industrial Park earlier today, June 12.

I had an opportunity to attend the ceremony, which included tours of the facility and presentations by BrightSource Chairman Arnold Goldman, BrightSource CEO John Woolard, and Luz II President Israel Kroizer.

The site features more than 1,600 glass mirrors, known as heliostats, which track the sun and reflect light onto a 60 meter-high tower. The concentrated energy is then used to heat a boiler atop the tower to 550 degrees Celsius, generating steam that is piped into a turbine, where electricity can be produced. To learn more about the company's "Distributed Power Tower" technology, check out the video on their web site. Click here for an Israeli news report on the SEDC.

In April, the company entered into a series of contracts with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) to build up to 900 MW of solar power in California, at a cost of $2-3 billion. Then, in May, BrightSource raised $115 million in a Series C round of financing from investors including Google.org and VantagePoint Venture Partners.

According to BrightSource, the solar power plants that the company is actively developing will provide enough electricity to power more than 3.2 million homes and remove emissions equivalent to what is produced by approximately one million cars.

Ironically, the bus to the event left from the Reading Power Station in Tel Aviv, which served as a reminder of how far Israel has come. Reading, built during the British Mandate in 1938, is powered by imported fossil fuels. Now, 70 years later, deep in the Negev Desert, an independent Israel is developing technology that will be exported to the United States and used to build the world's largest solar power plant.

Congratulations to BrightSource Energy and Luz II!

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